Seeds

  "Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of equivalent or greater benefit."  Napoleon Hill said that.  Do you believe it?  And if so, are you applying it?  Those are the questions I've been asking myself this week, friends. 
  As a world, we are facing great adversity right now, both as a global community, and as individuals.  And with all these changes, and interruptions, and frustrations, it can be easy to get bitter and angry, to shut down, lay down, or tune it out.  I know that personally I've wrestled with a lot of those things in the last few months, and I'm willing to bet I'm not alone in this. 
  If you're a planner like me, it can be incredibly difficult to deal with your plans being interrupted.  And while I've worked hard to get better at not getting upset with the little distractions and detours that happen on a daily basis, having my entire world, and plans, and goals upended was another thing entirely.  I'd be lying if I said I haven't been angry most days and cried and just flat out given up some days.  But, while I certainly have not reached a point of acceptance yet, Napoleon Hill's words did help me to start to change my perspective and with it, my attitude. 
  This season has been hard for me, and not for the reasons you might think.  My husband and I have been incredibly blessed to still be working.  But to be honest, working and trying to homeschool my son felt more like a curse.  It is the last thing I wanted to be doing these past two months.  My mind, my schedule, and my emotions have been on overload.  But, this constant overload and stress forced me to find new and better ways to manage my time.  It helped me to prioritize and realize what I care about, what actually has to be done, and what things I want to get rid of in my life asap.  I know a lot of you have been facing your own unique set of struggles during this time as well. 
  The truth is, we are not out of the woods yet, friends, but this season and this journey can be a set up for greater opportunities.  Or we can let it be a roadblock which derails our progress and keeps us from moving forward long after this is all over.  I don't know about you, but I want to find those seeds of opportunity growing among the thorns of life.  Hang in there!  I care about you.  We will get through this, and I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.W. 

One of Those Days

  Hi friends!  Today, was one of those days... you know the kind I'm talking about, the my son forgot how to write the number 9, tracked dog poop into my car carpets, and cried every time I spoke to him kind of days.  The kind of days where it seems like the whole world is mad at you, and you can't seem to accomplish the things that need done in the space of time you have.  The kind of days where your technology doesn't work, and you dump a cup of water into your purse.  (Not that any of these things happen to me... ahem... all of them happened to me... today.) 
  So many times, we picture our lives like a Hallmark movie, where everything winds up beautiful, we fall in love, win the lottery, and the whole family comes together at the end.  But life, often times can be more like a thriller, where there's a surprise twist, nothing goes as planned, and everything bad happens to the main character.  The good news is that no matter whether your life feels like a sitcom right now, or a tear jerker, or a just plain terrible film, you still get to choose how you as a character show up in your story.  Do you scream and swear and cry and throw things?  (Read...I did all of these today too.)  Or do you show gratitude, take a walk, and respond with grace and humor?  (I did manage to do some of these things some of the time today. ) 
  Part of the beauty of life is in the imperfection, in the journey, the growth, and the struggle.  The victory at the end wouldn't be half as sweet without the hurdles we had to overcome to achieve it.  We don't go to see movies about sports teams who did nothing and didn't have to train and faced and easy team and won.  No, we watch sports movies about teams who overcame adversity to create unity, who practiced harder than they thought they could, who faced their biggest rival and won.  And our life is no different.  The struggles may be hard, frustrating, and exhausting, but they are preparing us to win.  We can choose to lay down, or we can step up. 
  Today, no matter how your day went, I hope that you find ways to push yourself to become better and to step up to the plate and take that swing, even if you missed the first two pitches.  Don't grow weary of doing good.  Your harvest is coming. (Galatians 6:9) Show up, and be the character your story needs.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.W. 

A Cross Country Walk

Hello Friends!
  Imagine that you have just signed up for a cross country march.  You know that it is over 2,500 miles and that it will take you anywhere from four months to a year or more to complete.  Now, let's also say that the reason you have signed up for this walk is to benefit a cause you really believe in, and by completing the cross-country walk you will be raising over $100,000 for this charity.  Although many of us would not sign up for such a walk, at least we can see that it has a definite beginning, middle, and end, and as long as you keep moving forward each day, you will reach the desired end and earn the money for your charity. 
  Now, imagine that you have just signed up for a walk.  You know the prize is something incredible, but you don't know how long the walk will be.  You only know your starting point and the direction you should head.  You've been told that this is a challenging walk and that it will take a long time, but you don't mind because you want the incredible prize at the end.  What do you think would happen if, after a few days of walking, you sit down on the ground and begin to whine and cry that you haven't gotten the prize yet?  What if you walk for a few months and then sit down and hope the prize will find its way to you?  Do you think this behavior would get you to the prize?   Remember, you don't know how long the race is.  You only know that if you walk in the right direction long enough you will win the prize. 
 Most of us, if given the choice, would probably take the race with the known distance and timeframe.  But life isn't like the first race.  It is the second.  We have dreams and goals, and accomplishing them is the magnificent prize at the end of the race, but we have no idea how long it will take to get there.  We only know where we are now, and which direction we have to walk in.  In the example of the physical race, we know that to sit on the ground and cry about not reaching the destination would be extremely silly and unproductive.  But have we done that in our own lives?  So many times we get tired of moving in the direction of our goals and not achieving them yet, but rather than pushing forward, knowing that if we keep moving in the right direction we will reach the prize, we sit down and give up.  We quit walking and hope the destination will come to us. 
  If you are struggling or frustrated right now that your dreams and goals haven't happened yet or that you haven't made it to that next level, don't sit down and quit.  Don't hope the destination will come to you.  Instead, set your sights on the horizon, get a good pair of hiking boots, and find some traveling buddies who know the way, and whatever you do, keep moving.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  You may not know how far the journey is, but you know where you are and which direction to walk, and that is all the knowledge you need to move toward your goals.  Keep walking friends.  Your prize is ahead. 

~K. W.